FEBRUARY 12, 2009 ISSUE
Business Spotlight
Coldwell Banker Blair & Associates—Consistent Staff, Customer Service and Results for 16 Years
Most of the brokers at Coldwell Banker Blair & Associates have worked for the company for more than 10 years, some for 16 years. Owner Fred Blair attributes the success of his business to the stability and consistency of his staff, and believes the stability leads to better customer service and higher sales. Photo by Sam Calhoun
According to an old maxim, if we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we always got.
When Fred Blair bought Boone’s Coldwell Banker franchise 16 years ago, he didn’t know much about real estate, but he did know people—how to treat them and what they wanted most. He knew customers wanted stability out of a real estate office—a staff with low turnover, familiar faces, helpful attitudes and local connections.
To achieve this goal, Blair did—and still does—what isn’t often done. In order to keep his staff happy, working hard and their jobs lucrative, Blair, to this day, has never listed or sold a property for his full-service real estate brokerage, Coldwell Banker Blair & Associates.
“I don’t compete with my agents, so the pie doesn’t get sliced too thin. It’s allowed me to keep my staff; allowed this to work. Most of my agents have been here for over 10 years; some have been here since the start—16 years. We have a very low turnover,” explained Blair, who currently employs 12 licensed real estate agents, three real estate agent assistants and one office manager. “My job as manager is to make it easier for [the agents] to make money. Usually, the biggest producer in a real estate office is the owner, probably because they take the better leads. It seemed that if I could put [the agents] in a position to make more money, then I could keep them longer.”
Blair’s management method creates a family-like work environment and a team feeling among the staff that, Blair believes, is passed along to the customer in the form of total customer service. For instance, when a new property is listed with an agent in the business, Blair takes the entire staff on a field trip to the new property—sometimes with snacks and beverages in tow—so he and the staff can get acquainted with the home, building or plot of land. Since the entire staff is familiar with every property, they can answer customers’ questions, even if the broker in charge of the property is not available.
“You get the whole office when you list a property with us; you really do,” said Blair.
Blair is a native of Banner Elk and a graduate of Avery County High School. After high school, Blair enrolled in ASU in 1980, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management in 1985.
Blair’s first move out of college was to Greensboro, where he worked for Rent-A-Center for eight years, eventually becoming regional manager. At the end of his eighth year with Rent-A-Center, word came that his portion of the business had been sold, and he would be receiving a small sum of money from the sale. With money in hand and no job, Blair decided to move back to the mountains in 1992 in search of new business opportunities.
Back in Boone, he found out that Bonnie and Jason Self were selling their Coldwell Banker franchise.
“It seemed like a good business opportunity so I bought the business,” said Blair.
At the time, the only real estate knowledge Blair knew came from the purchase of his first home, so he immediately enrolled in real estate classes. While Blair studied for his real estate license, Bonnie Self acted as the business’s broker-in-charge.
High Country real estate prices were significantly lower when Blair took over Coldwell Banker in the 1990s. Most homes were under $100,000, requiring Blair’s staff to turnover a larger volume of properties compared to today. The hard work in the leaner years, though, paid off when High Country real estate prices jumped in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The staff’s good reputation mixed with the nationally-trusted name of Coldwell Banker helped position the company as a top producer in the region.
Today, Coldwell Banker Blair & Associates list and sell residential and commercial properties, land and acreage all over the High Country. Blair estimates that 60 percent of the brokerage’s business comes from primary homeowners, and 40 percent comes from second homeowners. Most buyers are from North Carolina, Blair said, but he still sees a fair share from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Currently, the company is featuring approximately 80 listings.
“Our inventory is up right now,” explained Blair. “We are usually more buyer driven but everyone’s inventory is up because the economy is slow. There are more houses on the market.”
Blair is optimistic about the current state of the economy and its relation to High Country home prices.
“House prices up here have remained stable. In fact, the median home price rose in 2008 over 2007,” said Blair. “Banks are lending. Buying a house up here is still a good investment. It sounds cliché, but all real estate is local, and the prices of what is selling are stable.”
Coldwell Banker Blair & Associates is located at 2408 Highway 105 South in Boone. The office is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed on Sunday. For more information, click to www.coldwellbankerblair.com or call 828-262-1836 or 1-800-473-2653.
Community Interest
News & Notes
Events
Arts & Entertainment
